


Year 1 Operation: Black Ice

by Lacklusterswirl



Series: Rainbow Operations [2]
Category: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (Video Games)
Genre: Exes, Father-Daughter Relationship, Friendly Fire, Gen, Lots of fighing, Missions, OC's - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Relationship(s), Simulation Training, Sparring, Tension between CTU's, gunfights, thanks harry's board
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2019-11-13 06:24:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18026453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lacklusterswirl/pseuds/Lacklusterswirl
Summary: White Masks have taken over a yacht in Baffin Bay, Canada. With permission from the Canadian government, Rainbow will be closely supervised by an old rival for many Operators during Operation Black Ice. Meanwhile, Six has been looking to recruit some JTF 2 ops as well.More action practice, and Introducing my two OC's from other stories (Neither are OP though, so dw, they're just there to stir up drama with Rainbow).





	1. Intro

**Author's Note:**

> I have some vague attempts at French in this, even though I literally haven't had any interaction with the language in... three years? So I'm sorry if it's wrong.

“Skye~” a whinny voice sounded from inside the room, freezing Buck in place outside the ornate doors that really had no business looking that elegant. Especially when he knew the person who owned the office.

At least he _thought_ he knew. Because there was no way that-

“Yes, Iris?”

No way. He took a deep breath, still curious as to what was happening behind closed doors. Only one way to find out. He let his hand knock on the door.

“Come in.”

Right away, those piercing emerald eyes bore right through him. Nothing’s changed. Well, the small Chinese girl standing behind Skye’s chair with her hands on his shoulders was new. But it was weirder that Skye was letting her get away with it. When he remembered Ciel, he remembered an asshole who hid away and rejected anything that came from his personal life.

“Seb?” Frost’s cheery voice made him turn and look at the operator who had just walked up to the door. The moment she laid eyes on who was in the room, Buck swore that the temperature dropped a couple degrees. Guarded green eyes clashed with the cold brown ones staring him down. “Hello, Ciel. It’s a surprise to see you here. I heard you got invited back, so I assume those years spent sitting on your ass haven’t slowed you down? And what a surprise!” Her steely gaze settled on the girl, who met Frost’s gaze without flinching, but Buck saw how Ciel sat up a little straighter. “I thought you didn’t like showing off your girlfriends at work.”

His eyebrows shot up and the girl’s mouth twisted in a strange way.

“You think Iris is my girlfriend?” Ciel’s voice was cold, just as Buck remembered, but that tone… He found this _amusing?_ Confronted by two ex’s and a possible new partner, and yet he was laughing in his own, coy way.

Iris. Buck knew that name... but from where... Even the round, wide-eyed face stared back like she also knew him from somewhere.

Nevertheless, Frost and Ciel continued their own showdown, unaware of the one between Buck and the girl. “She’s a little young for you, no?”

“She’s my daughter.”

_Right_! Buck snapped his fingers at the girl. “I remember you now! I met you when you were a child!”

“I...” she scooted behind Skye again, eyes narrowed like she didn’t quite believe him. “Sorry I don’t recall.”

“You were five when you met him.” Ciel looked behind himself at her. Unlike the man Buck remembered, he was grinning. _In front of people._ “You once called him uncle Fuck.”

Frost snorted beside him, and even Buck chuckled at the blush that turned her cheeks red. He _did_ remember that. Skye freaked out that day, and that was the only time he ever saw his ex that flustered.

“That... That’s not fair. _I_ don’t even remember that! You- You can’t just… Ugh!” She poked Ciel’s forehead, and pouted. “I’m leaving.”

“Go do your work,” Skye gave her hand a quick peck. “I’ll call you when this meeting is over.”

“Sorry, ‘scuse me,” she murmured when she reached the door guarded by the two JTF2, looking at them with an innocent look.          

When the door finally closed, letting them know that they were now sealed off from the outside world, Buck could finally focus on the man who had-

“You disappeared for nearly ten years. One moment, you were one of the best SOA’s, almost ready for promotion and the next, you’re working a desk job? And what, all of a sudden you get re-uped to this position. In charge of an international task force overlooking an international terrorist hunt with all units responding to you. Admit it – you don’t deserve this position. You’re just a coward looking for attention.” Frost beat him to it.

“You didn’t let me know.”

That stopped Ciel’s open mouth, ready to respond to Frost’s accusation.

“What do you mean?”

When this office was first vacated nearly ten years ago, Buck didn’t know where to find him. Even if they weren’t together at the time…

“We’ve known each other since we were four, and you didn’t even say goodbye to me.”

As usual, Ciel’s eyes turned cold and distant – a robot. “I didn’t see a need to.”

“Is Iris… _yours_?” Frost asked. She knew she was _missing_ something, but she just didn’t know what.

Buck’s head snapped to Ciel. Because he wouldn’t… he has never…

“I’ve never cheated on either of you, calm down,” he muttered, looking away for a split second. But his eyes never failed to nail someone in place. “She’s adopted. _I_ adopted her. She’s a good kid and deserved a home. Don’t…” he sighed and ran a hand through his hair, ruining the neatly combed locks. Buck always liked him better like this anyways.

“What happened to her parents?” Buck asked.

“What do you think? Why else would I adopt a child?” the snarl in response made Buck raise an eyebrow. “We’re here to discuss a mission, not my life. If you want to know, get in line.”

Frost, who seemed to feel some semblance of pity lost it, and tensed with a frown settling on her face. “Fine.”

“Please,” Ciel squeezed his eyes shut for a moment while he processed what he was about to say. “She doesn’t know much about… A lot of things, but mainly what I was like before I took her in. I know you two don’t like me-”

“Understatement.” Ciel and Frost exchanged glares.

“But she has never done anything wrong. Go easy on her.”

Buck nodded right away. How could he not? His own family knew about the small child, well, not so small anymore, but they used to ask about her wellbeing. He just shrugged because she disappeared just as quickly as Ciel did. And… Oh.

“You left JTF 2 for Iris?”

“…Yes.”

Frost relaxed, and Buck tensed instead. And of course, Ciel caught that little movement too.

“Look, she was barely six! I can’t just ask her to-”

“Don’t explain.” Frost interrupted him, giving Buck a small nudge in the same motion. “It makes sense. You’re still the worst person I’ve ever met, but let’s just get this over with.”

.

Buck couldn’t get used to it. He tried – oh my god, he tried _so_ hard. But just _knowing_ Ciel was pacing around the same building as him was…

“Something wrong?” Ciel gave up on the treadmill, having caught Buck staring at him one too many times from reflection of the gym mirror. “I know you probably don’t like me being here-”

“No, it’s not that.” He also slowed down his treadmill, in order to control his breathing. “Skye, why don’t we go out for drinks or something? It’s Friday, and the pub on-”

“Iris-”

“Is sixteen, Skye.”

“Stop using my name. It’s unprofessional. And anyways, you don’t understand-”

“I won’t until you tell me.” Buck paused his machine to stare down Ciel, who was getting more and more frustrated.

“And I can’t tell you because it’s above your clearance.”

“Take her out with us. She’s allowed in. Just can’t drink.”

“I thought you found someone new. I don’t want to hold you back, Buck.” It was a cheap excuse. Buck was never the kind of person to completely separate work and personal life, and no amount of concern was going to make him reconsider.

“Il n’a jamais été un problème avant.”

“I… Buck, je sais que c’est dur de…” he let out a sigh, “Look, I can’t.”

“Is your French that bad already?”

“Seb…” the low warning came, and Buck only smiled back at the stormy face.

“Juste une observation.”

A snort, and Buck caught Ciel rolling his eyes. When the taller man went to step off the treadmill though, Buck reached out to hold him in place. How foolish of him to forget who he was talking to though.

Quicker than what his own eyes could see, Ciel grabbed Buck’s wrist midair, and squeezed it as a warning. “Don’t.”

Maybe it was Buck’s smirk, maybe it was his eyes, or maybe it was the way he almost touched Ciel so casually that it was almost like they were seventeen again. Either way, Ciel was glancing between the arm he had caught, and the face that was now openly taunting him. “What, scared that you’ll actually like it? Since you broke up with-”

“Let’s get some things straight, _Buck_ ” Ciel released the wrist and took a step back. “I ended things over ten years ago-”

“2005”

His glare made Buck just shrug, and Ciel continued. “I left you for Frost when she first joined JTF 2, and then I left her too. That was a long time ago, and if you are still angry, then I don’t know what to say or do, but I do know this: Iris had nothing to do with my decision to leave you, and we are now put on a special task force together to face a growing terrorist threat. In two days, we’re flying to Britain to train with elite ops from all over the world. I don’t want to hear you bring this up again.”

“Do you really think that I’m angry at you for… just breaking up with me?”

He tilted his head slightly. The classic Ciel move when he was curious, but unwilling to admit that he read the situation wrong.

“We’ve known each other since we were children. You can’t just disappear for ten years and rea-”

“Let me pause you there.” Ciel raised his hand so it was now acting like a barrier between them.

“Quoi?”

“Yes, we knew _of_ each other as children, but we were never friends then. I was the outcast from a broken family who could barely stop himself from glaring at the teachers and breaking everything in a classroom. That, or I was the weirdo that would cry at the sounds of broken glass. We were never friends then.”

“Then when? I thought we were, and you didn’t say anything else when I called you that.”

“I don’t need to answer that.”

.

It was a rainy Friday afternoon. The sky was completely overcast, the breeze carried the scent of rain, and the puddles were so long and deep that there was no way anyone had dry socks. Sébastien had the good fortune of having an umbrella, left behind one day in class, and now showing its use.

“Hey! Fils de pute! Comment va ta mère? A-t-elle aimé notre cadeau?”

“Va te faire foutre,” came the pathetic response.

The bullies eventually walked down a different path, leaving the lonely, scrawny kid alone. There were rumours. Well, there were always rumours. That his parents married out of wedlock, that his father was a drunk, that his mother was sleeping with other men, that he didn’t deserve to live. Children were the worst. Barely ten, and already telling a kid to kill himself.

“Hey. Do you want to share my umbrella?” Buck stopped in the middle of a puddle, but it wasn’t like the water was going to make him _more_ wet. He was already soaked to the bone. Plus, it gave the kid time to catch up.

“Je suis francophone. Parles en français si tu veux.” They stopped right outside the reach of the umbrella, prompting Sébastien to take a step towards him. That just made the boy scoff and walk right past him. “Laisses-moi seule.”

Sébastien kept up with him, step by step no matter how fast or how slow the other boy walked.

“Pourquoi tu me suis?”

“Je ne voulais pas t’offenser. C’est ton nom. Skye… C’est anglophone, non?”

“What do you want?” The other boy stopped and faced Sébastien. “If you want to insult me, do it. Call me English? Do it. Hit me?” He raised his arms up – an act of surrender. “Juste… Arrêtes lâ!”

His green eyes were wide and shining, despite the lack of light, and… scared. In fact, now that Sébastien gave him a closer look, Skye was shaking. He was scared. So, Seb did what he knew his mom did to him whenever he was frightened. He hugged the boy. The other relaxed for a moment, before thrashing around.

“Get off me. Arrête! Please!”

Seb released him, realizing now that he had made the wrong move. “I don’t want you to be scared of me.”

The other boy stared him down for a second longer before sprinting away, not caring about how the rain drenched his clothes.

The next day, Buck got pushed against the washroom stalls at school.

“Faggot!” He curled up on the floor. Realistically, he just had to protect his vitals, right?

“Is he your boyfriend?” No, just someone who didn’t deserve to go through this.

“Coward can’t even admit it.” A foot nudged into his backside, but it was just a test to see if he would fight back. Seb both didn’t know how to, and didn’t want to.

“He-”

The boy who raised his hand to hit Sébastien never finished his sentence. Instead, Seb carefully opened his eyes to see Skye in an all-out brawl on the washroom floor. It was one versus four, but it seemed to be a fair fight. These boys could talk, but they sure couldn’t take a hit. Skye was slim, too. He was able to duck under fists and nimbly dodge most of the incoming hits.

One minute, and it was over. Two boys were lying on the ground, coughing and struggling to get up, while the other two had fled. Skye stood over everyone, glaring at nothing in particular, yet just exuding the type of energy and danger that Seb wished he had.

“Get up,” he told Seb. When he stayed frozen on the ground, Skye frowned and offered a hand. “I told you to leave me alone.”

“Well, then you wouldn’t have come help me, would you?” Skye roughly dusted him off, and gave him a strange look.

“Do I really seem like that?”

“I don’t know. It’s what I would do I think.”

“Then we are very different,” he murmured. There was one last look exchanged – one that made Seb’s stomach churn with confusion and guilt. “They shouldn’t bother you anymore.”

“But they’ll go after you again, won’t they?”

“Of course.” A sad smile appeared. “But I’m used to it, so it’s ok.”                      

.

“Yes, I knew you since age four, and yes, we weren’t friends, but then tell me. When did that change then? Because don’t try to lie to me and say that it didn’t”

“When we turned eight-”

“When we turned eight, you beat up four kids by yourself to stop them from hurting me.”

“And then you knew I wasn’t as weak as I seemed.”

Buck frowned. “And your point is?”

“I’ve always had a soft spot for the weak. You just happened to be that for a while. It was nothing else. Don't go and romanticize something that never was.”

Buck gritted his teeth. “So, what. You found someone weaker in Frost? Why didn’t you let me know when you left? Do you know that my mother asked about Iris for a month after you disappeared?”

He sighed, and ran his hands through his hair. “I wanted a fresh start. It’s what Iris needed, and I wanted to provide. Nothing more. Sorry if you wanted some long-winded explanation, but that’s all.”

“Skye-”

“Excuse me, Buck, I need to get ready for my first meeting with our partner.”

And he pushed past. Gone before Buck could make a sound.

.

“Any hints?” Thatcher leaned on Harry’s desk. “I hear the Canadians are quite proud of this team”

“Well, just as food for thought, they say that the one leading the task force is probably gonna get a legend-esque status… At least for the JTF 2. I think you’ll get along with him.”

“Well, that’s great and all, but you only call me in when you expect there to be a problem, so what’s wrong with the lad?”

“Well, first,” Harry pulled out a couple files. “Whether or not he joins Rainbow will be based on whether or not his daughter likes it here.”

“He’s still a family man?” Thatcher raised his eyebrows, staring down the photo.

“Yes. In fact, serving is the best way for him to protect her, which we can use to sway his opinion on us.”

“But?”

“He’s… ruffled quite a few feathers on his way up. With some of the world’s best too.”

Ah. Thatcher leaned back and took a look at the cross-programs the man’s been a part of. “So, some of the ops are here?”

“Yes.”

“Who?”

.

“Ah, shit.” Those two quiet words were enough to silence a full lounge room. Because Pule rarely shows emotions, and it’s even stranger when accompanied with Castle’s string of curses.

“So?” Thatcher leaned forward with the picture of the three JTF 2 ops in his hand. “What do you think of ‘em?”

“Tina’s a darling,” Castle murmured. “Nothing bad to say about her. Just be prepared if you insult her ‘cause she can fight like a tiger if needed.”

“Buck’s a cool guy. Likes to joke around, but can get real serious if needed,” Pulse pointed out.

“So, it’s just Ciel,” Thatcher clarified.

The two Americans nodded.

“He’s an arrogant asshole,” Castle muttered, lip curling up in disgust. “Don’t get me wrong – he’s one hell of a fighter, but if I ever see him again, it’ll be too soon.”

Pulse’s mouth was in a tight line. “He’s arrogant, shows no empathy, and is dismissive unless he agrees with you.”

“Are you talking about Ciel?” It wasn’t the glare from Castle, nor even the fact that Pulse of all people just swore in public that made Thatcher rethink what Harry told him, but it was the fact that Gilles somehow guessed who they were talking about before even seeing the photos.

Thatcher nodded. “You agree with ‘em?”

“Pfft. They’re far nicer to him than I would’ve been.” As the three ops shared stories, Thatcher noticed Bandit sneak off, only to return with Jäger in tow.

“Alright, alright,” Thatcher cleared his head, seeing Jäger’s eyes widen at the picture. “Does anyone have anything nice to say about Ciel?”

“You mean Skye, ja?”

Silence. Four incredulous faces looked at the German engineer. “He’s a little strange. Likes to swing between badass, and sweetheart a lot.”

“He let you call him that?” Castle’s eyes were wide, and his mouth still hadn’t recovered from dropping so fast.

“Skye? Ja. That’s his name… Wait,” Jäger looked around at them. “What do you call him by then?”

“Asshole.”

“Dickhead.”

“Connard.”

Jäger raised his eyebrows. “Well, his daughter’s very cute. And smart. I liked her too.”

Immediately, Castle snorted. “Who would want to get laid with him?”

The red flush on Jäger’s face was what said it all, making Thatcher inwardly roll his eyes.

“She’s adopted. He’s a good dad – really!” he defended himself from the strange looks.

“When I see it, I’ll believe it.”

.

“Wait, so I’m-”

“You’re spending a semester in one of the most prestigious boarding schools.”

“But daaad~”

“Iris.”

Ciel looked tired. That’s what Buck decided. He was staring at his daughter with a frown that told everyone that he had made up his mind. Since the incident from that morning and at the gym, Buck gave him space, which the other man spent practically running from meeting to meeting. His free time was spent with Iris, making sure his daughter was alright. Not that Buck was keeping track. He just spent his day reconnecting with the child he used to know.

Iris, on the other hand looked outraged. “Why wasn’t I included in this discussion? This is my education!”

“Because…” It would be a promotion for Ciel – an organization that could care for Iris as more than just a test subject, and a chance to become a real legend. A hero, if you will. And from what Buck remembered, Ciel always did have a hero complex. “Well, first, you’ll be under the supervision of some of the toughest ops alive, so I can… you know, fight and go into missions without worrying about whether or not you’re ok.”

“JTF 2 have great operators too. Why don’t you trust your own teammates? There’s something I’m missing here.”

“It’s also great for your education. Most of the teachers there have connections with professors in Oxford, Cambridge, King’s College of London, the list goes on.”

“But-”

“Iris,” Ciel crossed his arms, and Iris immediately sighed, giving up. She looked over at where Buck and Frost were waiting with their suitcases with a look that made him want to fight for her side. However, he had a job to do as well.

“Fine. Let’s go then,” she murmured, choosing to walk with Buck instead of her father. Buck clapped her on the shoulder and led her on the plane while Frost took care of getting the luggage sorted. It was unfortunate, Buck supposed. Iris didn’t know they were leaving Canada until she was told to pack a suitcase. It was to protect secrecy Ciel argued, much to Iris’s frustration.

Even Ciel seemed to regret that decision. His eyes immediately softened when Iris walked away with Buck instead of him.

“Your dad means well, Iris,” Buck leaned down to whisper.

“I know.”


	2. First Training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Less drama, more action :)  
> Also, uh, no edits were done. I'm diving straight in.

“So, you want to test the three of us by putting us up against all twenty of you?” Ciel looked like he didn’t quite believe what he was hearing.

“It’s just a quick test.” Castle smiled back.

Having just woken up after a long flight, and a short rest, Frost barely rolled out of bed that morning, let a lone answer the door. Ciel and Buck were already shoulder to shoulder facing the SWAT operator, and an excited looking younger man behind him.

“When?” Buck asked.

Castle shrugged. “Probably in the afternoon, before dinner or something. It’ll give you a chance to wake up and get a plan going.”

“What’s the training?” Frost asked. Both Ciel and Buck turned to nod in greeting.

“Bomb defusal,” the other operator, whose name Frost had forgotten, said. His name was something that reminded her of chess. Oh well. “We’ll be defending it like if we were a terrorist cell, and we’ll give you guys unlimited time to defuse.”

Ciel turned to give Frost a small frown. “Attacking means we’ll have a slight disadvantage.”

True. If they were attacking, it would be harder to put down her traps for others to walk into. However, if they were to defend, Buck would also have a slight disadvantage, not to mention that they would be heavily outnumbered if the Rainbow ops chose to flank them.

“Well, say we wanted to defend…” Ciel trailed off, giving her the chance to speak. That was always his best trait, an ability to care about his team, as long as it was strictly professional.

“We shouldn’t,” she murmured. “We’re better suited for _assaulting_. And it’ll help our number disadvantage if we can choose where to enter and such.”

Buck nodded along. “Agreed.”

Castle nodded, “Alright, see you in AR at 16:00!”

.

“What are you thinking?” Buck asked. The Canadians were bunched up in their room, crowded around the floorplans of the simulation they would be a part of. Frost’s expertise wasn’t with attacking or breaching, so she was rather complacent in their planning.

Ciel had been pacing back and forth, glaring at the map. “They must have traps somewhere. It doesn’t make sense that… They would never choose a map this small to hole up when they have the numbers advantage. They could easily give us a huge map and make us walk around mindlessly while picking us off.”

“Smaller buildings mean less points of entry…” Buck murmured.

That sounded familiar. It was something Frost learned during hunting… “Then it’s for sure that they have traps. Either something like a hidden nitro, or one of them has a movable trap like me. They want to force us through certain entrances and set off whatever they have planned.”

Ciel held her gaze before nodding. “But what kind of a trap?”

“One of them has a little box that gets nailed to the doorframe. Then if someone trips the laserwire, it goes off.” Frost looked up at Iris who had since come back from her own meeting with Six and Harry. “And then one of them has gas grenades that can stick to surfaces, and are deadly. Plus, with that guy carrying the big shield, I think they plan to have them set up one room with gas, so when you go in, they’ll set it off and trap you in with the shield guy blocking off your exit.”

“Where did you learn this?” Buck asked, raising his eyebrows the more he heard.

The younger girl gave a sly smile. “They were talking really loudly when I passed their room. Apparently, they forgot that I’m here too.”

“What else did you hear?”

Frost leaned forward in her chair. Iris returned her question with a smile. “They have a sniper with a thermal scope and gas grenades. He might try to find a hiding spot and cause chaos from there. And a grenade launcher, something called an exothermic charge, but then they called it a breaching charge, and I don’t know what they are. Ohh! One of them mentioned a drone that can tase you, and a shield with built-in flashbangs! One of them has a scanner that tracks electronics, and the other has one that scans for a heartbeat. They have a lot of cool things!”

Ciel scoffed, stopping Iris’s rambling. “Alright, well, go make a list of school supplies you’ll need. You start on Monday, remember?”

She rolled her eyes. “Ok, but I want to watch!”

Buck nodded, and she walked off. “They were going to surprise us,” he commented. Ciel gave a grunt, and Frost started preparing her traps.

“We can give them one too,” she smirked.

.

“Mission is a go,” the announcer called out. Ciel looked over both Buck and Frost, waiting for the confirmation.

“Are you sure the bag won’t slow you down?” Buck asked.

Ciel did some vague head motion. “I mean, we don’t have another option, do we?”

“He’s carried you in training before, Buck. My three traps don’t weigh as much as you.”

Frost smirked at the mock offended look from Buck. Ciel cleared his throat to interrupt. “Alright, we know that the bomb is in CEO, but we should clear bottom up and watch for flanks. Frost, you’re gonna leave mats at stairways or major entry points where we expect a flank. I’m taking point, and Frost, you’re watching our flank. Questions?”

“Do you think if we win, we could force the Americans to change their spelling system?” Buck asked.

Ciel just shook his head and hid his chuckle. “Let’s go.”

Buck was on rappel, watching the windows for movement while Frost held an angle on the room where Ciel was entering. The moment, both gave a clear, Buck tossed a smoke grenade through a small hole in one of the barricaded windows, and joined them, walking in front of Frost and placing a hand on Ciel to signal that they were good to start moving.

“I hear something to our right,” Ciel murmured. The explosion and smoke combo had caused some gunfire, so he was sure that their entry and footsteps were covered. He motioned for Buck to line up by the wall while Frost watched their flank. He counted down, and Buck used his Skeleton Key to blast open a hole while Ciel fired a steady stream of bullets from his assault rifle through the wall.

“He’s down,” Buck announced, followed by a stream of angry swearing. “ _She’s_ down.” He corrected himself.

It was Ash, and Frost made sure to note the grenade launcher in the woman’s hand. So Iris was right.

“You think they heard?” Buck asked. The building had since quieted down.

Frost shrugged. “Better safe than sorry.”

Ciel stopped examining the fake body that was left. This simulation was much more realistic than he had thought he’d ever see. But of course, nothing was left. Just a floorplan with a few scribbled lines of something other than French and English.

“The only I got from the thing she had was that she was her own team. After that distraction we made…”

“You think they’ll do a role call?” Frost finished for him. Ciel nodded, and flicked a switch on his helmet. Out of the three of them, only he wore his helmet all the time. It was his specialty. A dim red light flashed once, letting Frost and Buck know that he was tracking for heat signatures.

“Nothing here, but maybe someone up ahead. That, or it’s her trail from where she came from.”

The two hunters stared at each other before nodding at their leader. “Let’s hunt.”

They got closer to the ground in an effort to make their approach quieter. Frost left her trap by the entrance into archives, just in case they got flanked, and they quickly established control of the empty area. If she had to make a guess, the chaos on the second floor probably pulled most of the ops to at least the first floor, thought it was unlikely that their peace would last for much longer.

Ciel pointed up at the ceiling, and Buck nodded. They were going to blow the hatch. Frost ducked behind cover and looked at the entrance without her traps. The two shotgun shots shattered the board, and to the surprise of the two men – evident by their swearing – someone _fell down._ It was that GIGN boy from earlier that day, though Ciel made quick work of him by slitting his throat. While blood pooled on the floor, Frost heard some panicked shuffling from above followed by—

“Impact!” Ciel and Buck dived to the sides to avoid the explosion. Almost lost in it all was the familiar spring of a welcome mat catching a leg.

“Someone’s in the welcome mat,” Frost murmured. There was a rough nod, and they switched roles, with Ciel watching the flank, and Buck covering her. The booms of the CAMRS echoed in the hallway as he took down one of the Germans trying to help his downed teammate. The ratta-tat of the Super 90 took out the one stuck in the mat.

“That was a shield,” she murmured, noticing the shield on his arm. Ciel confirmed, and she crept forward, hearing something else.

An explosion, followed by a few gunshots echoed from behind. “Merde!”

“Ça va?” Buck quickly asked, tapping Frost’s shoulder to let her know that he was going back. She nodded, and kept creeping forward, hearing the clicking getting louder. It was regular… familiar… Remembering what Iris said earlier, she knew exactly what it was. The pulse scanner.

“I think the electrical scanner is watching my helmet from above. I’ve turned it off.”

“Frag out.”

Another explosion sounded, and Frost took that as a queue to turn the corner and lunge at the unsuspecting man hiding there. They wrestled, exchanging a few blows each until her knife plunged into his throat.

“One tango down,” she paused for any more sounds, and then made her way back.

“We need to start heading up,” Ciel announced, dusting himself off.

Buck looked at him in disbelief. “You think they won’t try to corner us down here?”

“No.”

Frost gave him a questioning look, though she was still more concerned with the possibility of another threat sneaking up on them.

“They have twenty people in total, and there are three floors. They could try to swamp us here, but now that they’ve lost four operators, in trying to pin us down, I assume they’d try to make use of the traps Iris told us about. To do that, they can’t lose more assets here.”

“Let’s move then, I’m getting a little nervous just standing in the open,” Frost murmured.

Ciel nodded, they grouped up in their formation again. Just then, a little tube stuck through the ceiling.

“Run the opposite way, back to kitchen,” Ciel ordered, and Frost took off without questioning it.

Buck was hot on her heels, and explosions followed their footsteps. More clicks, and pops, and explosions sounded, and Frost was genuinely curious: _what the fuck were they running from?_

When they slowed down, Ciel huffed out an explanation. “Iris was telling me about how one of the Russians has a cluster of grenades that can breach soft surfaces.”

“Ah,” Buck was also stopped to try and catch his breath. “How many more?”

“That’s it. He has three with him, and those were three that just went off.”

Frost just readied her gun when a sound came from above. Plaster and pieces of the ceiling were raining down, and Frost immediately unloaded her entire magazine up between the beams. A groan and couple expletives sounded, meaning she hit her mark.

“Yellow had a staircase,” Ciel muttered. They made their way out again with a grenade on their tails.

“Should we rotate? They won’t expect a fast hot breach into visa,” Buck suggested. Ciel was slow peeking the staircase, and then nodded.

“Good idea. Let’s get to safety first, I think that Sledge guy is about to make another hole.”

Sure enough, more parts of the ceiling were getting destroyed, slowly closing in on their position. Buck followed them out, watching their flank while Frost and Ciel rushed to cover. Two loud shots, and a person fell from the window above, where they had made the hole earlier.

“So, scrap that plan…” Ciel muttered, noticing the Russian flag and the gun. “That was the sniper at least.”

“I saw a shadow or pass under the light,” Buck shrugged. “But both plans have gone to shit…”

“We could breach visa still,” Frost muttered. “They’ll never expect it now.”

“We should rotate still,” Ciel murmured. “We can’t go in on this side without them seeing us.”

They started making their way around the sides, Frost keeping an eye on visa entrance while they crossed, then switching with Buck so she could run by as well.

“Front door, breach and clear,” Ciel muttered. “I’m turning my helmet on, don’t let me get shot by the electrical scanner.”

“Typical SOA,” Frost joked, but confirmed and got ready.

“Buck, let’s go.” Even though it had been years since the last time he worked with Ciel, Buck felt the rhythm come back. They had done this before in even riskier settings. This would be child’s play.

Ciel nodded and ran up the stairs. Buck’s shot gun was faster in opening the door, and Ciel immediately flicked his aim to the side where the scanner lady and another Russian were caught off guard. The covering fire of the Super 90 actually took out both of them, and Buck was able to reach down and recover some claymores and breaching charges from them.

A couple shouts from down the hall had Ciel ducking and moving towards Visa. Frost immediately covered his back, while Buck followed him. “Smoking. Watch my back real quick.”

Using his thermal vision, now without the fear of getting brained, he saw the two shapes clearly, trying to find a place without the smoke. One shape, he recognized as Sledge, and a quick stab ended him, but the second.

“Didn’t expect to see me ever again, huh?” he joked, easily pinning the German engineer to the ground. “Do you have anything to tell me?”

“Good to see you too, asshole.” Jager muttered. “Vat efair fourtre.”

“You’re getting worse at French, tsk tsk.” A quick pistol shot ended that, and he scanned for more signatures. “Visa empty.”

“Reception area is clear too. We’re going to check out the skylight staircase we saw from the blueprints. Shall we wait on you?”

“Nope, I’m tired of waiting, and there’s no real risk here. Last one to bomb room loses. And don’t forget that you guys have the defuser.”

Buck felt the case strapped to his back, and agreed. “You’re on.”

Buck and Frost approached the staircase door. Buck was about to run forward until Frost gripped his shirt and pulled him back.

“Whoa-oa! Qu’est-ce que—”

“Trap. Iris already told us.”

“Ah.” He nodded. “Can we just…”

Frost shrugged than leapt over it. “Yeah. Yeah, you can.”

Buck followed and they continued to climb up the stairs. Together, they made their way up the stairs scanning for movement on the balcony. Buck nodded at the staircase and Frost reached for her bag—

“Ciel has them… Fuck!” She muttered.

“I heard that.” Ciel’s mutter interrupted their scan. “I have a little device with a laser light… Can I just shoot it?”

“Probably,” Buck muttered. “We jumped—”

A gunshot sounded. Then _a lot more._ Of course.

“He never listens.”

“Hey! Less talking, more rushing!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Buck shot down someone how came to check the murmurings in the staircase. “One down.” Behind them, they heard the sound of a barricade… just not quite.

“Same here. A Spetsnaz guy just jumped me. Almost took me down too.”

“Ours was a—” Frost shot close to him, and a little combustion sound came from behind. “SWAT.”

“It was a drone,” she explained. Then, with her instincts, she aimed up at the door “What the hell…”

 Buck stared at the white barricade with her. “Shoot it, we don’t wanna lose to Ciel.”

She did, and nothing worked. She shrugged, and Buck nodded at the soft wall beside it. Two shots from his Skeleton Key were all that it took, and they crept through the hall.

“Toxic babes!” Then yellow gas erupted. Buck made for the door when a shield appeared.

“Shit, the side, Buck!” Buck shot the wall and they ran out, Buck shooting at the shield, while Frost aimed for where the voice came from.

“Two down,” he gasped. “The room to OBJ is blocked though. A white barricade?”

“Soft breaches work on it. Use your shot gun, or a breaching charge,” came the answer from Ciel.

“Ready!”

“I’m watching the long hall,” Frost muttered. As he destroyed the special barricade, she got a French woman who peeked from behind the desk. “One more down.”

Buck threw a grenade. “Frag out.”

“That’s great and all, but I have two in this area, and the third is unknown.”

“One in this room,” Frost noted, hearing the swear. “Other is unknown.”

She took her time, trading roles with Buck. While he watched their back, she looked through the door, seeing the laser wire at the bottom of the doorframe. She quickly shot it out and peeked inside, just to violently jerk back to avoid the stream of bullets that followed. There was no way… that thing was too old… To satisfy her morbid curiosity, she quick peeked once more and confirmed it.

“That’s a fucking mounted LMG,” she announced. “Cook a grenade and toss it on your close left, back of the room.”

Buck nodded and got it ready. 1… 2… He tossed it.

“Blyat!” Followed by silence.

“Just finished my fight here. We have two unknowns. I’m making my way over now by that long hall.” Ciel called out. “We’re missing Castle and Doc. Keep an eye out.”

“Defuser down… Uh oh… They never did teach us who this works, does it?”

“Are you shitting me?” Frost shoved her way to the device. She took her time, reading the miniscule words and typing what they needed each time.

Eventually, she leaned back and a harsh beeping sounded from the device.

“Defuser has been activated. Protect the defuser at all cost.”

“You got it, voice in the sky…” Buck muttered. He took one corner, reinforced from behind, and watched the defuser. Frost moved behind the giant wooden desk, which Ciel helped topple, and Ciel took up a spot behind couches.

“Where are they even coming from?” Frost asked.

“Don’t know, keep an eye out,” Ciel muttered in response.

Buck couldn’t stop fidgeting. His angle was limited – only really watching the open windows behind his teammates. The chances of any of the remaining Rainbow operators rappelling seemed ridiculous, but there he was.

The shuffling of feet behind the wall Buck was pressed up against told him that there was someone approaching. He jerked his head towards the wall he was leaning on and hoped that Frost got his message. She narrowed her eyes and gave the slightest nod of her head.

At the same time as Buck heard the footsteps enter the room, an impact grenade broke the soft wall on the other wall. Buck strafed to his right to get a good angle, just as he saw Ciel fire a few bullets at Castle, who was emerging. Instead of killing the enemy defender, Ciel’s mag clicked empty, and he had to frantically search for ammo.

Buck covered them, and took down Castle. Not fast enough though. Because Castle lobbed his last impact over to where Frost was still trying to gun down Doc.

“Frost!” Buck shouted, a warning.

Time was slowing down. Ciel was still searching for another magazine, but recognized the incoming grenade before Frost even let go of her trigger. Buck strafed into the open, not realizing that Doc had gone prone just outside the doorframe, and only managed to graze a single bullet against his arm before he was taken out himself.

Buck immediately gasped and sat up. The feeling of bullets was too real for him, and he sat there in his chair catching his breath. Next to him. In their own little chair-machines that he forgot the name of, he saw the eliminated operators all watching the screen above.

Beside him, Ciel woke as well, as he shielded Frost, both form the impact, and the bullets from Doc. They watched Frost on the floor, crawling to the side and holding an angle on the door. Doc had to go in to defuse, and time was soon running out. Buck watched as one by one, all of Frost’s nervous ticks were showing. Her mouth was twitching side to side, her breath just a little too heavy, and how her toe pressed up against the top of her boot.

Doc quickly peeked into the room, and Frost took her shot.

.

“That’s not fucking fair!” Ash complained the moment Ciel got up out of his chair.

Frost woke and immediately gave Buck a tight hug. “Holy shit, I didn’t think that I’d make it.”

“I believed in you, ma cherie,” Buck chuckled. Even Ciel had a happy smile on his face as he stood behind the two.

“That was well played. Both of you,” Ciel praised them.

“What did I get my leg caught in?” Blitz demanded. “That hurt like hell!”

“And what opened up the wall? I didn’t know you had two primaries!” Ash complained.

“What does your helmet do?” Sledge poked at Ciel’s head.

Smoke was still pissed. “That was just dirty – all of it!”

Ciel gave a tight smile and chuckled. He was never fond of giving away his secrets. Even if they would be teammates soon.

“You had your own traps as well,” Frost argued. “These were just a way to even out the field. It’s not our fault you went for stupid plans!”

“Where’s Iris?” Buck asked, noticing that she wasn’t in the room anymore.

Rook pointed at the door. “She walked out after the simulation ended. I don’t know where she is right now.”


	3. First Mission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some sparring and then the start of a mission :)
> 
> Tbh I've rewritten this chapter a few times already, so I didn't proofread it in hopes of getting it out faster, so if you see small changes, it's just me editing when I catch mistakes.
> 
> If you want to see some original stuff, come find me on (mostly) tumblr at lacklusterswirl (OR if you want to ask about update times... sorry, it's been a busy two ish weeks).

“So, is there a reason why you’re here instead of comforting your daughter?” Frost walked into the gym and immediately singled out her target.

“Did something happen to her?” Ciel asked. He was stretching with almost every other Rainbow operator getting ready for _something._

Frost sighed. Leave it to Skye to save his parenting for someone else. “No, but doesn’t it concern you at all that the only person’s she’s talked to since yesterday was Jäger?”

“I’m more concerned that she’s talking to Marius again than I am about her wellbeing.”

“You’re a shit dad, aren’t you?” she muttered.

His eyes flashed, and there was just a chilliness to his attitude that told her that this was a hill he would die defending. “You haven’t known her for very long, but she’s always been very blunt with how she feels. If I go in now, she will push me away even more. Don’t you think I’ve tried this before?”

Frost shrugged. “If you say so. But what are you gonna do?”

“I told them I have a perfect record in hand to hand back when I was part of JTF 2.”

And the little shit even had the audacity to—

“You remember, don’t you?” he smirked.

“Bring it, you fucker,” she muttered, practically throwing off her jacket.

It turns out that Skye had been challenged by nearly every operator to a quick sparing match. His attitude seemed to stir up more shit than before, which Frost did not appreciate. So, she stood there beside Buck as they stared around at the others.

“So if any one of them out wrestles all three of us, they win it for their unit?” Buck asked, eyes narrowed at their leader like Ciel had grown an extra eye.

“Yeah. I trust you. Plus, that means they have to get past me,” he boasted.

Frost looked at Buck and they were definitely thinking the same thing. _He’d better get punched in the face._

First up was one of the Russians, and Frost found herself doubting her leader. Yes, he had a knack for reading body language, but the Spetsnaz were known for this. This one in particular it seemed. She knew him as the other hunter, and they had exchanged some wild stories during their first day as part of Rainbow. Skye said he had won the fight on the stairs as part of the simulation, but—

“Still pissed about the simulation?” Skye joked.

His opponent didn’t smile back. Kapkan started with a series of hits aimed at Skye’s head and neck. Skye didn’t have any trouble blocking them – it was all basic – but then, as Kapkan’s arm extended to the side, Skye had no trouble blocking it there, surprising the crowd, and hooking his arm around his opponent’s side to bring both of them to the ground. Once there, he kept a hold on the wrist and twisted it over both his and Kapkan’s body, making the man being pinned hiss in pain. It didn’t last for long, as the taps came soon afterwards.

“How did he stop the arm halfway?” Frost heard Rook whisper to one of the older operators. Mute, another one of the younger operators replied instead. “Does it matter? Not like he’s superman or something. Probably luck.”

“Jealous,” Rook chuckled, and dodged the hand that came at him.

“Seb, Tina, wanna switch in?” Ciel asked, looking at his phone. Though it was asked, yes, the tone and the look told them that something had come up.

“I’ll go,” Frost nodded, then noticed who she was up against. Sledge, the tallest operator here, and she was kind of just… average height and weight.

“Bon chance,” Buck murmured with just the slightest twinkle in his eye.

“I will make you eat your words,” she muttered back, entering the circle. She made eye contact with Sledge and nodded.

He started with a punch. She leaned to side and pushed it away, giving the SAS op a quick hit to his ribs. It startled him, that much was clear, but she was still staying light on her feet. A hit like that would never bring him down completely. But it was enough to buy herself some time. When Sledge grabbed a fistful of her shirt, she held onto his wrists and planted her feet on his chest in a quick kick. Sledge grunted as the air was driven out of him, and Frost’s idea ended up forcing her on her back too.

Buck recognized this. It should’ve worked. Frost was lighter and should be nimbler than this giant, but that wasn’t the case. They managed to get to their feet at the same time. The warning barely left his mouth when Sledge threw Frost to the ground quickly twisting her arm and planting a knee on her chest.

“That’s the first Canadian down,” Mute murmured.

Buck only chuckled. “Then you don’t know Tina.” Mute shot him a look before seeing what was happening in front of them. Sledge wasn’t winning at all. He couldn’t even keep her still.

Frost twisted her body in a circular motion and with the help of the slippery mat underneath her, she rolled out from him and used his grip on her arm against him by driving her head right to his nose. The force made him fling, and in that moment, Frost jerked her arm free and started a move Buck knew too well. It was a reverse headlock with both her legs wrapped around one of her opponents, and forcefully arching Sledge’s back with his arm pinned between his own body and Frost’s side.

“Careful, he’ll do the Skye move,” Buck called out, over the chants and shouts from the SAS operators. This was a slow burn hold: it wouldn’t make him tap out right away. It was meant to inflict a lot of pain because the arching of the person’s back, mixed with the pressure on their throat and the shoulder that was twisted behind would eventually have them tapping out.

“He doesn’t know it,” Frost replied, putting even more pressure on poor Sledge. She was right. Skye had both invented the hold, and the escape needed, so this move would’ve been useless on him, but on someone who has never sparred against Skye…

Sledge tapped out. And the crowd went silent except for Buck who slammed both his fists against the mat. “Yes! That was amazing!”

Frost stuck her tongue out at him and helped the man up, even rubbing his shoulder slightly where she had exerted some pressure.

“What kind of a hold was that?” Sledge demanded, gently stopping the massage, no matter how much he actually enjoyed it – Frost was very used to helping others after a match.

The two Canadians exchanged looks and chuckled. “Something we were taught early on in our training.”

Sledge gave them both a look and rejoined his own team who started teasing him.

“Buck, you gonna take the next one?” Frost saw another huge man step in with eyes shinning.

Buck rolled his eyes, but entered the ring anyways. “Ça va prêt?”

The other man nodded. “Oui. Allons-y.”

“You’re gonna get bulldozed,” Frost chuckled. Buck wasn’t small, but he wasn’t as big as this man in front of him.

“Il s’apelle Montagne pour une raison,” Doc muttered.

Frost raised her eyebrows. “Sorry Doc, but I don’t speak French. Only the other two.”

Rook looked over, “His call sign is Mountain for a reason. He used to train GIGN recruits too, so Buck’s gonna get the shit kicked outta him.”

“Watch your mouth,” Frost frowned. “Buck can hold his own. Don’t count him out just cause he’s friendlier than me or Skye.”

Montagne took the blows from Buck with an expertise Frost had to admit showed off his ability. Because while Ciel preferred fast moves to end a fight as quickly and Frost like to wear down the enemy before pinning them in the most painful wait possible, Buck was trickier. He liked to trip up his enemy and have them fall before he committed to any grappling. But considering the size and stature of the man in front of him, Frost silently wished for Buck to try her style instead.

 He didn’t get the chance. “Sorry to cut in on everyone’s fun,” Ciel had reappeared all signs of amusement gone, “but I need to see Buck and Frost.”

Seb and Tina shared a look before walking off with him.

They made their way to a  private meeting room before Ciel even spoke a word.“I received an update. They’ve traced the signal to a spot in Russia. Spetsnaz already knew about it, they just didn’t know about our problem. Harry just told me that they reached out to Rainbow for share what they know, and what do you know? One of the signals is something we’ve seen before.”

“So do we have jurisdiction?” Buck asked.

“No,” Ciel responded right away. “That’s purely Spetz territory, and we cannot interfere. No one outside the Russian government can.”

“Then?” Frost was already thinking about what to pack for the journey.

“We’re heading back to Canada with the Russians part of Rainbow. They want us to take over a known cell in the arctic where we have two agents stationed undercover right now. It would help the extraction of our two ops there, and Russia wants one of theirs to confirm the signal before they act on the cell they’ve tracked down.”

“And are we just going with their demand? Why aren’t we going to the Russian one and checking the signals there?”

Ciel shrugged. “Well no matter what, our two undercover ops have to get out soon, and preferably before Rainbow actually goes to Canada.”

“We’ve barely started training with them.” Buck was right, Ciel knew that, but there wasn’t much he could say. “It’s not like we know each other that well either.”

“I mean, the mission is just infiltrate and capture a few prisoners, eliminate the rest, take out documents, all that. We have a week to plan and carry out our assault, and then we’re back here at Hereford to keep training. Realistically, it shouldn’t be that hard. Get packed. We leave in five hours.”

.

“You’re telling me that you can shoot a coin? That’s tossed up? And more than a hundred metres away?” Buck was impressed with the slightly younger man in front of him.

Glaz was seemed much more talkative now that it was just the two of them, instead of both CTU’s and even more officials from god knows where. He was the first of his team to be ready. And Buck was still waiting on Ciel while Frost was using the washroom.

“I know what your job requires, and I know the risks, dad!”

That cut Glaz off, and even made Buck frown at the closed door.

“Then I don’t understand why you’re making such a big deal out of it.” The voices were getting closer to the door, yet Buck couldn’t look away.

“I just want to know if you’d do something like that in real life. You basically threw your life away, and for what? What if that was real? Would you’ve done the same?”

“I don’t see you saying the same about Buck—”

“I literally haven’t seen Buck since I was six apparently. And he seems like a great person, but he doesn’t mean the same to me as you do.”

“Alright! Then yes. I would’ve done that in a real scenario, happy?”

Buck could feel Glaz shift around uncomfortably beside him. This was not going in a good direction.

“Iris, I don’t know what else you want. When I took the grenade for Frost, I had already run out of ammo. I had nothing left – Frost still had two! I had less of a chance of winning that fight, and you know I have the faster reaction time. The choice was obvious. You knew this was a risk when you agreed and let me rejoin active duty.”

“I knew, but I didn’t think you would just—”

“What else was going to happen?”

“But dad—”

“No more buts. I need to leave, and you need to sleep. You still have school tomorrow.”

“I HATE the school here. It’s all rich kids who make fun of me for not having as much money, for being impressed by their brands, for sitting beside some asshole who I literally have never talked to before, and yet they all think I’m flirting with him! I don’t want to have to go to school there if you’re not here. I want to go home.”

“That’s irrational right now—”

“I’ve just turned sixteen! I’m not an adult still, can’t I ever be even a little bit emotional? Everyone else is!”

“Iris, you know that what we’re training you for is special—”

“Well then I wish I wasn’t! I would’ve never been picked out by CSIS, I would’ve never trained with JTF 2, my parents would be alive, I would have a brother, and I wouldn’t have to have you as a dad!”

Buck knocked on the door, waving Glaz away as he did. The door unlocked but nothing happened. Slowly, he inched the door open to see the father daughter glaring at each other.

“Iris,” Buck started to say. Ciel just turned and pulled him out with him.

“We can’t be late. Let’s get going.”

Any protest Buck would’ve had was stopped when the door closed.

“Ciel—”

“No, I’m not going to talk about it. Frost is coming back now, and we should meet the Russians now. Copter leaves in half an hour from now.”

.

“Alright,” Ciel looked over his Team. The operators were grouped together with the exception of Glaz and Buck, who were taking on the overwatch role. “Ready?”

Buck watched from a nearby slope as the team entered the house. Glaz was somewhere opposite him, and watching from his own vantage point while the team entered.

“All clear.” The first callout came from Frost. She and Kapkan were separated from the other group, and already in the objective room, where one of the undercover agents was waiting for them. The other was on patrol somewhere, and would turn the moment they saw Ciel. The Russians were let in on the two who were currently waiting for extraction, and as such, knew that there was still a friendly they had to be careful of when fighting.

Buck watched as Frost and Kapkan quickly trapped the doors and windows while the third person kept typing away at the computer. Then, he saw as one was approaching the room, still unaware of the infiltration.

“One tango approaching objective. Permission to shoot?”

“Granted.”

Carefully, Buck lined up the shot, just for the man to drop dead in the hallway. “Down.”

Glaz’s chuckle came through comms, reminding Buck of the little bet they made before coming out.

“I’ll get the next one,” he promised.

“Sure.”

They kept trading, back and forth while more and more terrorists kept investigating the bodies. Ciel’s team had run into a few patrols, yet hadn’t found their other man yet.

“Frost here, we’ve got all the data down and transcribed. Have you found him yet?”

“Still searching. Buck?”

“Nothing yet— Hold on, there’s someone approaching.”

“I’ve got this one,” Glaz murmured. This one acted differently though. The moment they saw the bodies all lined up to the door, they ran towards the door with.

Buck didn’t wait for Glaz. The moment his two shots hit the terrorist’s head, the door exploded, making all three turn and ready their guns. The explosion could be herd from where he was currently stationed, and the squirrels that were somehow still bickering at each other in the trees.

“One on the stairs. I actually have this one.”

Ciel scoffed and muttered, “Is everyone alright? First floor is cleared, so our ally is somewhere on the top floor. Frost?”

“On it.”

Buck watched as a head poked out, and immediately, they ripped off their mask. As they opened their mouths and started to run towards Frost facing Buck, he could see the relieved smile. Over comms, Glaz grunted and…

“Don’t fire – friendly!”


	4. Nightmares

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrap up the bit from last chapter here, and explore one of my OC's in more detail (hope you don't mind the supernatural elements to her) Also, I promise more action is coming soon. I just want to dip into drama for a bit.
> 
> This hasn't had a proofread yet, so if you see changes, it's just me fixing some things as I catch them. Thanks :)

Buck didn’t remember what Glaz said. He didn’t remember Frost’s scream. He didn’t hear Ciel shout out orders.

Medical evac. Chest would. Punctured lung. Friendly fire.

“I’m sorry.”

Buck looked up from the report in his hands to Glaz, who was sitting in the hospital, looking lost.

“Nothing to be sorry about. A mistake. That’s it. A breakdown of communication with the agents while they were undercover, and then a foolish move on his part.” Despite the kind, soft words, Buck saw Ciel’s hand tighten it’s hold on his hair, tugging on it hard enough to make Buck wince. “Doctors have said that he’ll make it.”

The military doctors had long since cleared the other ops to visit, and since then, all Spetsnaz except Glaz had left. And he was now sitting in the room with the three other Canadian ops.

“I-I didn’t—”

Buck standing up silenced him. “Go get some sleep. Your teammates will be expecting you, and we need to head back to Hereford soon.”

Glaz nodded and followed him out of the room.

.

The moment the shot rang out, Glaz followed it with a series of apologies. Buck felt blood rush through his body and he started preparing for an extraction. “Glaz. I need you to calm down and cover the exit.”

“Anderson’s down, we need an immediate evac, Jerry, get me a first aid kit… FASTER!” Frost’s commands were followed through, and Buck could see her working through the window.

“The bullet hit his upper chest area, right side,” Frost murmured. Soon, Ciel’s team got to the top floor and nodded at no one in particular, though Buck knew what it meant.

“Ciel’s approaching, Glaz will be leaving his post to meet you by point Romeo and escort you.”

That command got Glaz to confirm and Buck saw his shadow slip into the night and take up position beside the ammunition storage. Finally, the Russian had something to focus on other than his mistake.

“On our way, going down west main.”

“So far, you’re clear to make it to Romeo.”

Buck saw a flash of blue out of the corner of his eye and had to shoot at the bomber running at them. The terrorist fell far away from his teammates, and he watched with trepidation as they inched closer to extraction. Only when the radio sounded with Ciel ordering him to come down, did Buck finally relax.

The man named Jerry was beside Frost, frantically working on their teammate. When Glaz set down his sniper to try and help, Buck pulled him back up. “Don’t. Jerry’s a field medic, and he can do a better job than us. Use your rifle to scope out for enemies.”

“Ok.”

.

When Glaz finally set his bag down in the temporary room, set up for the Russians, only Kapkan was still awake, and just sitting on his mattress.

“It was an honest mistake, and the man will live. There’s nothing else to ask for.”

“Except since it was his lung that was actually punctured, he may have to live out his life with just one lung, and probably won’t be able to work anymore as a soldier. And it wasn’t some dying throw that saved his life and won the day, it was mistake from a foreign partner after the mission had already succeeded.”

“Everyone makes mi—”

“Don’t bother finishing that. We both know what mistakes during our missions cost lives. That’s why we’re not allowed to make mistakes.”

“We can’t be perfect though.”

“Well, at least we have to be better than what I just did…”

That was the last thing he said to any of his teammates before falling into a disturbed sleep.

Glaz was in the mountains. He knew this place. He once came here on a mission to be overwatch for a secret meetup – a meetup that had been successful, and was talked about all the time until he got transferred. It was between an undercover agent and a target they had been planning to meet for months. In exactly two minutes, the target would walk out the cabin to the front porch, where the agent would initiate a talk to see if it was safe to take him out. Once the signal was given, the man on the porch would meet a bullet to the head. Something was off this time. Which wasn’t possible given the fact that Glaz remembered this very clearly.

When the man gave the signal, the target let out a whistle at the same time, and a large wolf bounded out of the woods to bowl his ally over. Glaz’s first shot killed the target; however, his teammate was now locked in a vicious life or death match with the large animal.

“Glaz, take the shot!”

“No clear shot, you’re moving too much.”

“I trust you! Take… the shot!”

Breathe. The wolf was large, and his friend couldn’t last for much longer. He waited, and then took the shot, right for the wolf’s head. The loud sound of his gun firing froze his blood. There was a silence where neither moved, and then, to his horror, the wolf grabbed his friend by their neck, and showed off the new hole in their head. Red liquid flowed out, as the sightless eyes stared in his direction.

The wolf couldn’t’ve seen him. He was at least a mile away, and it was nearly night. It didn’t matter. The wolf dropped the dead body, and bounded towards Glaz at impossible speeds. Glaz abandoned the sniper rifle and started running. Somehow, he only took a step forward before the wolf knocked him down. The teeth and hot breath against his neck were uncomfortable, but above that was a fear that he didn’t think he should’ve felt. It was a feeling of needing to curl up and pretend everything was ok.

“Glaz!” Someone was shaking him. “Timur!”

Glaz opened his eyes to see Kapkan gently shaking him. His brows were furrowed and there was the familiar look in his eyes. The one that showed that he was scared, even if he refused to let outsiders see it.

“You’re having a nightmare.”

“I know. I was dreaming that I killed—”

“It’s better if you don’t think of it.” Kapkan tried to comfort him. “I know you’re worried, but the past can’t be changed. Don’t let it affect your future.”

Throughout all the words, Kapkan was rubbing circles on Glaz’s back, which helped immensely when it came to “Thanks,” Glaz murmured, nodding at his teammate. “Sorry for waking you up.”

“Nah, and it’s not just me. We were all worried. Those two just don’t know what to do.”

.

“Marius, what am I here for?” Iris was stifling a yawn from being woken up from her sleep this morning. It was her first weekend since arriving, and she already seemed overworked, though not from school work, she assured Jäger.

Jäger was nervous, but there wasn’t much he could do. Skye already cleared her to work for Rainbow and Six made sure Doc knew it. He was just worried. He had never seen her do an actual session before. Just the informal ones she performed on him. That, and her week had been anything but easy from what she told him.

“Just to help improve my mental state.” In terms of who was more tired, even though Iris looked exhausted, Jäger knew that Doc was _actually_ exhausted. The man was just perpetually stressed, which he supposed came with that line of work.

“It’s just a test. I didn’t want him throwing you in with someone with larger issues before you were ready.”

“Aw, you don’t have to protect me. Just improving mood is easy,” Iris mumbled around another yawn. “I slept for five hours last night, Doc, how about you?”

“The same.”

“Should I ask Jäger to get us coffee?” Iris looked up at Jäger from where she was sitting. “Bitte?”

He rolled his eyes, but complied, knowing she was really asking for space. He normally wouldn’t know what she actually wanted, and rush back with two coffees, but her ability was much stronger from when he last saw her.

.

The moment Jäger left the room, Doc asked what had been on his mind. “Is there a distance to what you can do? Skye told me you always try to establish physical contact first, but just then…”

“He’s getting better at reading me, but just doesn’t know it.” Iris stretched around before looking at the doctor in front of her. “Maybe when I was younger I did abuse my talents especially on him, but I’m growing up. He is too.”

“You never answered if you had an effective range. Because not all operators will let you give them full hugs.”

“You assume that the power is proportional to the contact area. It’s not. It’s just that the moment I lose physical contact, it just takes more concentration to force my will on someone. Plus, I probably have a stronger touch aversion than any of them,”

“Alright,” Doc took a deep breath, then leaned back in his comfy office chair, “then help me. I can tell that I’m stressed, but the normal methods I take to destress aren’t working. I’m at a loss.”

Iris tilted her head. “I’ve always wanted to be a doctor, you know?”

“That’s good. It’s a noble goal.” Doc was curious as to where she wanted to go with this.

“You’re the first one to say that to me in a while, Doc,” she said, a smile growing on her face. “Since I’ve started high school, people have been saying is that it’s constant stress. That’s actually why my relatives are trying to convince me to choose another career, but I think I understand the stress.”

“It’s not just stress,” Doc gently interrupted. “Yes, I think that even though you know it’s hard, the fact that you still want to help others by being a doctor is noble, but it’s not just stress. If it was just stress, medical school would be the only life lesson you need. It’s so much more.”

“Do you mean that it’s even more stress than med school?”

“No. I mean that there are other emotions. There’s grief when you lose a patient, there’s sorrow when you have a bad diagnosis to give, there’s the anxiety and hours pouring over whether or not you made the right choice. And sometimes, these feelings get pushed to the side – no, lumped in with stress, so you think you’re dealing with stress, but it’s actually so much more than that.”

“So then why are you only trying destressing methods? You should be trying out ways to get over grief and sorrow, and ways to minimize or recover form anxiety.”

A breath left his body, nearly unconsciously, and wow, Doc was really blind. Blind, but relieved. “Is this what everyone talks about when it comes to you?”

Iris smiled back. “I can feel things you can’t put into words. So I know which questions to ask, which therapies to recommend. I can also give you relief when you tell me the truth. That part is unique to _me_ , sure, but it works. Positive reinforcement. Your issue was just really straightforward compared to what I normally face. I would do some self-reflection in our next session together and try to find the root cause together.”

“Why don’t you just… Look through me?”

“I’m forbidden to. Privacy rules exist for me. That, and people are much more receptive when they play a part in their own solution. Active vs passive, right?”

Doc leaned back, feeling like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. “But this feeling I have right now?”

“Is yours to keep until the previous feeling returns. Think of it as an exchange. You have a cleaner version of something while I try to repair and think of a solution to your problems. Then next time, we try something together once I give back _your_ feelings, and then you fix them.” Iris was reaching out for his hand that was resting on the table. The moment they made contact, he noticed just the slightest sign of discomfort in Iris, but nothing obvious.

“While you’re feeling better, I would take the next fifteen minutes in this room, or more if you want, to reflect and try to come up with an answer as to what you’re pushing away so much that it’s causing you… this.”

“Alright,” Doc nodded, understanding that this was the end of the first session. “That was surprisingly powerful for about five minutes of talking.”

“Your issue is not as complicated as you think,” Iris replied, smiling at his expression. He wanted more concrete answers, and she wasn’t willing to divulge. “However, your problem is hard to face and come to terms with. And that’s fine. Take your time, and reach out to me when you think you’re ready.”

With that, she left the room, revealing an anxious Jäger who seemed to have been waiting just on the other side of the door with two cups of coffee in his hands. Iris took one and kept going, while Jäger brought the other one in.

“That was quick,” Jäger noted, handing over the cup.

Doc took a grateful sip and nodded along. “That’s a powerful gift…”

“Sure is. And I try not to and apologize for him, but… You understand why Skye was so confrontational when you asked if she could help out here.”

“She could help out so many people, but… She takes in what we’re feeling instead, right?” Jäger winced. “Jäger, is she literally taking away our pain and putting it in herself?”

Doc watched as Jäger clenched his fists and squeeze his eyes shut. There was a tone to his voice Doc hadn’t heard before, but it was oddly fitting to his next words. “Her ability has kept her from being able to handle contact. That’s why being surrounded by people tires her out so quickly, and why she has such a strong touch aversion. People call her gift a blessing in disguise, but Skye and I call it a misunderstood curse.”

“Skye’s not really a cold man, is he?”

“He’s the opposite and cliché. He has the largest heart of all. He’s just used to hiding it all away for her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been kinda swamped with work and school things, so if you want a progress check, or just to see what else I post, come say hi on [tumblr](https://lacklusterswirl.tumblr.com/).
> 
> :)


	5. Team Dynamics

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise, just one more of these, and the next one will be the actual mission :)
> 
> If you want updates or to see what I normally post (really just about what goes on in my siege games), come say hi on my [blog](https://lacklusterswirl.tumblr.com/). If you want to see me write something in particular, send me an ask and I'll do it (probably... uh, timing might play an issue if anything).

Kapkan was drinking by himself in the lounge. There were other people, sure. Just no one else to drink with him at noon. He wasn’t complaining. A cool breeze entered the lounge as the large doors swung open. The sudden, cold breeze on his cheek made Kapkan look at who just came it. It was Ciel, looking like he was on a mission for something, though, when didn’t he? Kapkan had long accepted that the man was respectable, sure, but too scheduled – too robotic for him to find any interest in the newcomer.

Now, Buck and Frost were different. They had different approaches to life, but were still such good friends. And just the way they all moved. They were hunters. And they were good too. But Buck and Frost were entertaining a few others outside in the cold. Part of training for some of the operators included extra practice in snowy conditions. He had heard enough of the complaints.

Ciel was here for Iris. Kapkan had planed on talking to the girl for a while, but Doc was always around her, making sure that she was kept safe. Safe from what, he couldn’t tell.

“Jäger.”

“Skye.”

Hm. Kapkan let his eyes sweep over the scene in front of him. Jäger seemed quite comfortable, sitting with Iris curled up against him. They were both reading the same book, probably something physics related. Ciel first took a step towards Iris before freezing. Just the other night, Buck had been talking to Frost about something going on between the father-daughter duo, and Glaz had confirmed it for him. Giving his head a shake, Ciel took a seat next to his daughter, who didn’t even turn to look at him.

“How was she?”

“Everything’s been good. I’ve been looking after her.”

“That’s good. Thanks.”

All three sat in silence. While Iris kept reading the book, Jäger and Ciel exchanged glances with each other, occasionally looking at he girl between them.

“I hear the mission went well?”

“Almost perfect.”

“That’s good.”

Iris closed the book and looked at Jäger, purposefully ignoring her own father. “I’m going to find Doc now. I’ll find you before dinner.”

“Alright, have fun.”

Iris walked off with the book in her hands and a scowl on her face. It was like time slowed down as everyone seemed to have noticed the interaction between the two. Only when the doors slammed shut, did Ciel move at all. His head dropped to his hands, and Kapkan couldn’t help but pity the other man.

“I need to leave in twenty-four hours, Marius. Iris is still angry that she’s here at all, and she’s definitely still angry at me for making these choices without telling her first.”

“You shouldn’t have said those things. She shouldn’t have said what she did either, but… She _is_ a teenager. Let her act like one. She can’t be that little girl forever.”

“I know… There are just times when…” He cut himself off with a sigh and walked out of the room as well. “Tell her I’m leaving tomorrow. I’ll see if she comes and finds me.”

Glaz had moved next to Kapkan during the argument, and managed to startle him when he tore his gaze away from the scene in front of him.

“I don’t know if I could ever stand having a daughter.”

“That’s unfair and you know it. There are special circumstances that we don’t understand there.”

“Well, could you imagine having to raise a child while away at a job like this? Even worse since Iris works in the same organization as him. I don’t think I could ever manage something like that.”

“Never?” Glaz perked up, surprised. “You’ve never even thought about dating a colleague?”

“No? Timur, do you even remember where we come from? Then take a look at my past units and tell me when I would’ve had an opportunity to date.”

Glaz looked slightly embarrassed, but shrugged his shoulders. “I just assumed… I didn’t mean to offend”

“No worries.”

.

“Who are the first ones going over?” Frost was tapping her foot as she waited for Buck to give a straight answer. While they stayed back an extra day, Ciel had already returned to Canada after a quick debrief.

“The Russians. Ciel thinks that we’ve had enough practice with them already, and so they’ll give us some breathing room when it comes to training with others. Otherwise, he would like IQ, Jäger, Twitch, Ash, Pulse, Sledge, and Smoke.”

“So we’re heading out tomorrow.”

“With the Spetz and Sledge, yes. The others will come once they’ve been briefed.”

“And when Iris has said goodbye to her back up father.”

“That too. It’s why Doc is staying here.”

“Hey, at least you can get closer to what ‘is face? Kapakn? Can’t fool me.”

Frost rolled her eyes. Had she been siting any closer to him, she might’ve reached over to smack him, but as it was, they were on opposite sides of a table. “Don’t pretend you haven’t been staring at that quiet one this entire time.”

“Except I remember where they come from.” Buck raised his eyebrows. “Not all countries are accepting of that part of me.”

“But I am. Now, shut up, here they come.”

.

“Frost, leave a trap here.” Ciel had already finished his reinforcements, and was waiting for Frost to follow his call-out. All she did to question him was raise a brow, which didn’t go unnoticed. “I know Buck. You do too.”

Kapkan had ran off to god-knows-where to deploy his traps, and Tachanka was set up over the fake hostages. Ciel had already detailed their plan. From an intercepted call, they now knew that the White Masks were planning to trap a yacht on ice, and board. There would be the issue of hostages that would need to be dealt with first, and then whatever chemical monster they brought with them this time.

“Bean Bag and his family are scared,” Tachanka chuckled over comms. He would stay on site as a last line of defense while Frost lurked in the adjacent rooms, ready to help out.

Kapkan’s voice sounded over comms next, “I’m on the top floor. The bottom is all yours, Ciel.”

“They really do call me ‘seal’, huh?” Ciel smirked, commenting outside of comms. “Can’t believe I got demoted from the sky to a circus animal.”

“Don’t insult seals. They’re cute – you’re not.”

“Alright, alright,” he chucked. “I’m off, rounds about to start.”

Just like that, Frost was left alone in the dorms area. She heard some scuffling, and then the barricaded widow started getting chipped. With baited breath, she waited for the rappelling sounds to stop, and…

They shot out her mat— They SHOT OUT HER MAT. And if that wasn’t annoying enough, she heard the sound of the pin getting removed from a grenade, and had to run for it. There was an explosion somewhere behind her, but looking back was a risk, so she could only move to a closet looking at the window.

“At least one is on windows by the dorms. Tachanka, that’s right next to you, but I have your hallway covered.

“Understood.”

There was a spray of gunfire above and the announcer called out, “Three vs four.”

“Who was that?”

“Kapkan?” Ciel immediately asked into comms.

Nothing. Frost swore and moved to cover the staircase near the fight, but it was unlikely whoever it was would go down there now.

“Fuze above obj!”

“On my way to top floor right now,” Ciel grunted.

There was a series of little clicks, followed by more explosions.

“Two vs four.”

“Two vs three.”

“Fuze down. Sledge is up here somewhere too, but Buck—”

The sound of a welcome mat going off made her smile. “—Is in a trap.”

“Then it’s just the sniper.”

“Copy. I’ll stay away from windows.”

Another thirty seconds passed while Frost watched both the hostages, and listened to Buck moan loudly about how tight the traps were.

“Can’t you just loosen it? I’ll pretend I’m still stuck, promise.”

“Shut up, Seb.”

“But it _hurts~_ ”

“Shut _up,_ Seb.”

A smoke can went of somewhere, and Frost mimed driving the butt of her gun into Buck’s crotch, which worked in shutting him up.

“Just got smoked, need you to flank from the west.”

“On my way.”

Frost ducked behind a couple upturned tables and waited for her partner to flank. A few testing shots whizzed by the desk, signalling that Glaz knew where Frost was hiding.

“I’m by the bar, but he’s looking at my direction now. I need you to pin him.”

Taking a few deep breaths, Frost first peeked at the scene in front of her. Only when she was sure, did she creep out and ready her gun. Glaz must’ve seen Ciel hiding somewhere because that would’ve explained the sudden bursts of gunfire.

One, two, three… four, five, six…

It would be safest if Frost could get him near the end of his mag.

Seven, eight, nine, ten…

She peeked into the hallway and quickly shot her bullets into his back.

“Defenders won. Get changed, and come back out.”

.

“I can’t believe you just left me in a mat!” Buck exclaimed.

“I can’t believe you fell for it again.” Frost was too preoccupied with rearranging her gadgets to properly pay attention.

“How did you see me through the smoke?” Glaz walked up to the three of them.

Ciel looked up from where he was polishing his helmet at the young man who just spoke. He lifted the helmet up, showing off the goggles underneath the visor.

“Thermal vision?”

A confirming nod.

“Doesn’t that screw up your vision?”

“Does your thermal scope screw up yours?”

Glaz paused, then nodded his head. “Ok.”

Frost looked up from where she was wiping down her welcome mats to see the awkward exchange. Glaz younger than Skye – young enough to ignore without consequence, which probably explained the cold answers. Still, he was brave enough to approach the three operators he had been avoiding back at Hereford. Him getting called into action with the JTF2 ops was a shock to the entire base after they heard about the misfire.

As inconspicuously as she could, Frost nudged Ciel in the side. But, as she had learned about the Russian, he was very attuned to the small actions. “Ok. Sorry for bothering you.”

The genuine quality to his voice made her side eye Ciel, who was now watching her after the rude elbow. Before Glaz got too far, Ciel called him back.

“The training forests are empty for a few hours. Would you like to try out my helmet?”

The smile on his face was worth the backlash she was sure she’d receive from Skye later.

.

Buck had been stuck in control for a good hour, helping with the sheer amount of work they overwhelmed with while trying to pull in the necessary support for the op they were preparing for. Although for the time being, the questions about the Russian operators had faded, when he first stepped foot in the room, all he got asked about was whether or not the guys were as ruthless as the stories. Do they care about civilian lives? Do they kill on sight? By the second question, Buck was already dreading the time to come.

“Buck?” Ciel had just appeared at the door, looking a little prouder of himself despite the developing bruise on his cheekbone.

“Where did you…” His hands unconsciously traced over prominent cheekbones, aware of how the other man tensed once his cool finger tips traced over the purple splotch.

Apparently, Buck was making too much of a fuss because Ciel swatted away his hands and leaned back. “I was training with Glaz. Teaching him. Fast learner too, you know?”

“Ok.” Not ok. Because he could feel other eyes on him, and that would mean more questions, and more questions would mean a frustrated Skye, and a frustrated Skye—

“We need to debrief. With them. Today was our last training together, and we need a plan.”

Buck was about to follow him out when a single radio transmission crackled its way through all the background noise. Everyone froze mid action. “Help! Please. Some maniac’s trying to run our boat into the ice and we’re—”

Silence, then the person closest to the radio leapt on. “Hello? This is the Coast Guard, where is this happening? Do you have coordinates? Can you get a visual on the attackers?”

“B—Baffin Bay. Sending…” Then the static faded again.

One second. Five. Ten. Then another short burst of static accompanied by shouts and gunfire.

The operator of the radio looked up at Ciel, who nodded. “Get those coordinates, or a rough area. We need to send in a group for hostage rescue. Let’s get Rainbow suited up and ready to fly North as soon as possible. All updates go straight to me, understood?”

A chorus of people shouted their responses and Ciel turned and walked back out with Buck on his heels. Frost, Sledge, Kapkan, and Fuze were in the conference room, but they all stood when they saw the look on their two faces.

“What happened?”

“We’re being called into action soon than anticipated. They’ve made their move. Pack up, and get ready to leave. I’m waiting on a confirmation for the plan, but we’re looking at a hostage situation right now.”

“Floor plans?” Sledge asked.

“On their way to me right now. The moment we find out _where_ we’re going, I’ll have the blueprints to the ship as well.”

Buck looked around and counted the heads one more time. “Where’s Glaz and Tachanka?”

“Infirmary,” Kapkan muttered, giving Ciel a slight glare. “Glaz got into a sparring match with _him._ Tachanka is with him just to be sure.”

“Be sure?” Ciel scoffed. “He’s perfectly fine on his own.”

“Si tu veux—” due to his apparent lack of any tact, Ciel had the audacity to stare blankly at Ciel in the open, when Buck had so clearly tried to keep his voice down and—

“If I want what? I’m saying the truth. The oldest one looks after him to a point I have never seen any other Spetsnaz operator, and this one has a crush—”

“I. Do. Not—”

Ciel held a hand up, and even Buck winced at the pure murder in Kapkan’s eyes. “Either way, it’s irrelevant. We have a mission. All this says is that neither Glaz nor Tachanka will join us.”

That was the last thing he said before turning his back on the others. The smallest shift in Kapkan’s weight alerted Buck to his glare. Those accusing eyes followed Ciel down the hall, even when the Canadian was out of sight.

“He’s a tough on to deal with sometimes. Trust me, I know.” Buck chuckled. “I dated him after all.”

There. That revelation was enough for Kapkan to look at him with something less intense – more curious.

“But he I think he’s really grown fond of Glaz, treats him like how he does to some recruits. Like a younger brother. Trust me when I say that Skye would probably give up his life for Glaz now.”

“Glaz is more than capable.” Although it was said in a callous tone, Buck had to agree that this level of protection among one of the more ruthless forces was shocking. More so was the slight widening of Kapkan’s pupils on the topic of the sniper.

“I’m not disagreeing with you. But Skye likes to teach and take care of those who he deems deserving. Glaz is just one of them, so he now wants to show off what his training has done for him.”

“He likes those weaker than him?”

Buck shrugged, ignoring the eyes that were daring him to say out loud what the other hunter was insinuating. “He likes to protect. A goddamn hero complex that Iris hates with a passion.”

There was a polite hum. And that was a good a promise as any that this was going to be alright.


	6. Start of something... well, something

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Possible explanation as to why JTF 2 apparently don't like Spetz according to Harry's board? Idk, it's very dramatic, and even though it's probably developed from just conversation, this felt more interesting to me.
> 
> If you every wanna come say hi, or listen to my siege (in game) stories, come drop by [my blog!](https://lacklusterswirl.tumblr.com/) I've been open to take requests so I can write more, and I don't get a lot of asks (really, like, ever. I've had two.).

Frost was walking behind Ciel. Behind her, she could hear Sledge’s heavy footsteps following. To be honest, if she was a terrorist, she’d probably surrender just off of just seeing the giant holding a sledge hammer and walking towards her. But that’s now how the world worked, and especially not in the heads of these lunatics.

“Beta team in… merde, la salle du boreal.”

“Alpha in position, kitchen hallway. Confirming once more.”

Frost was already on her phone, checking the drone. “Confirmed five hostages. According to family accounts, there should be about twenty people here, but they’ve gone… missing.”

She saw Glaz stare at her for a brief moment, perhaps considering if he should comfort her. She was fine. It wasn’t the first time she’s seen civilian deaths before.

“Sledge in position,” Ciel confirmed, nodding at their teammate.

“Beta charge ready.”

“Three… two… one…”

Simultaneous explosions sounded, and gunfire immediately followed. At some point, she remembers looking someone in the eye as she shot their best friend, and then they themselves. Ciel tackled someone away from Glaz and dealt a few harsh slashes before the twitching body stopped moving completely.

Tachanka was literally killing people left and right with and Buck keeping his back clear.

“Cluster charge ready to activate. Tell me when you’re far enough.”

 That was the plan, Fuze and Kapkan were on the floor above and ready to block of the exit the moment they were safe enough away, then meet them outside.

And it worked. Mostly.

Once they were away form the yacht, and the gunfire slowed down, there was something wrong – something strange. “What’s that beeping noise?” Ciel asked, switching on his helmet. Maybe he missed a bomber, maybe they had reinforcements.

Frost started to ungag the hostages, and the first one she freed screamed, “Mark has a bomb attached to him!” That set the operators into a frenzy.

Ciel immediately signalled for Buck, Frost, and Sledge to take the rest of them away, leaving behind the man named Mark at the hands of Ciel and the Russians. Securing the hostages and extract wasn’t the issue, Sledge drove away with the JTF 2 back-up team, and Frost and Buck rejoined their leader. Ciel even had the man empty all his pockets in case there was a clue there. Strangely though, was that the man didn’t seem to be able to talk, and had trouble breathing. But those were also symptoms of someone going into shock, so what could Frost do? That wasn’t the worst yet.

No. What was wrong was the next thing.

“One hundred and thirty seconds. I can solve this in time,” Ciel muttered, immediately starting to examine the mess of wires and buttons. His confusion only grew when he saw the number wasn’t just falling. It was rising occasionally, and sometimes, it was falling.

“It’s connected to his pulse, look at that,” Glaz caught the little number fluctuating up and down. And Ciel finally traced the wires to the patch over his heart.

“There’s a threshold,” Buck agreed, pointing at the tape on the side. “If it goes below this, it blows, and if it goes past this, it’ll blow too.”

“We don’t know if he has a remote detonator. If he does, we’re risking our lives by staying this close.”

Frost shook her head at Kapkan’s words. “If they had one, they would’ve exploded it on the yacht when we were surrounding the hostages. That detonator either doesn’t exist, or is lost.”

Those piercing eyes gazed right at her. “And say it’s lost. He’s now a ticking time bomb without a visible timer.”

“We have to try—”

“Not at the risk of our own lives.”

“Kapkan.” His eyes narrowed, seeing the thinly disguised ploy to try and get him to feel some sympathy. “Look at his wallet, he has a family, we can’t just not try!”

“Frost is right,” Ciel murmured, holding his hand out for a hunting knife that Buck placed there. “There’s a chance I can get this off of him; he just can’t panic.”

Buck took up position beside the man and tried to reason with him. Fuze, Glaz, and Tachanka seemed preoccupied with keeping the terrorists at bay and on the yacht. “Mon ami. I know it’s hard, but try to relax. My friend knows how to deal with this situation, you just can’t… what’s wrong?”

Even though the gag was off, the man finally opened his mouth, and no sound came out. Then he started chocking and coughing.

“Pulse is rising – get him to calm down!” Ciel snarled from where he was knelt down beside a stretch of wires he had untangled.

“Ciel,” Frost was trying to encourage him to keep coughing. “I think they somehow put something in him, and that’s what he’s choking on. The moment his heart rate reaches zero…”

Buck froze. His friend and ex-lover only gritted his teeth and moved faster along each wire, tracing it to its origin. “Ciel we may need to evacuate.”

“Ciel—”

Frost was cut off by the feral growl coming from their leader. “Not. Yet. I… Get out. Go to evac, and I’ll meet you there.”

The coughing was slowing and Frost saw the rate get within ten of the upper limit.

“Frost, Buck, that’s an _order_ , get everyone out.” He was sawing at his first wire now.

“Ciel—”

She didn’t need to finish. Fuze had reached around, trusting Glaz and Tachanka to be fine without him, and grabbed the man’s collar. Without a second thought, the operator tossed the man so that he stumbled into the open area between the yacht and where the operators were hiding behind large ice chunks.

One gunshot, and then another explosion.

Even Ciel seemed momentarily frozen while both sides seemed to recover from the shock of what happened.

“Evac,” he managed to say. “Now.”

.

Ciel didn’t speak on the bus. Buck didn’t know what to say on the bus. And Frost… Frost was doing everything she could to keep her mouth shut.

She couldn’t forget those whimpers, the fear in his eyes, the sound of a body exploding, and red on white.

And Fuze seemed unaffected. Never before had she felt this kind of a separation. There were the three Canadians, mourning a lost opportunity, and the four Russians, satisfied with the overall result. Even though they were too late for eighteen others, and too slow for Mark.

When they got back to base, just outside the front door, Frost hears Kapkan move up to her and whispering. “What happened today was the best possible scenario.”

And oh boy.

“No.” Frost spun and stood close enough to the man where she could see each and every eyelash. But this wasn’t heart fluttering or anything. This was pure, unadulterated anger – the kind that made you feel arm hot and tense. The kind that made you want to fight.

“Stop.” Ciel hadn’t said a word since the incident, and he apparently wasn’t planning on it either.

Frost tried to argue, but froze, seeing the barely contained rage. Ah. So, he was mad too. The best Ciel was when he was mad but on your side.

The moment they stepped into the briefing room, Ciel started his ‘talk’.

“I gave an order.”

“A stupid order,” Fuze countered immediately.

“That was a human being you killed.” Frost’s snarl was so vicious that spittle went flying, though she didn’t have the time nor energy to feel embarrassed or apologize.

The Russians, though Glaz was standing off to the side, unsure yet trying to support his teammates, stood up and faced the three Canadians. Sledge was staring between the two groups, confused as to what happened. Frost saw Buck whisper to him out of the corner of her eye, and almost missed the hand darting out for her collar.

Ciel held onto Kapkan’s wrist midair and glared back. “Don’t you dare lay a finger on my operatives.”

“Then you are both too foolish to realize what should have been done,” Kapkan retorted.

With a frown, Ciel let go of Kapkan’s arm, and seemed to be taking deep breaths. “What you may not realize, is that this is still my jurisdiction. Every order, every plan, every single detail – _down to the second_ – goes through me.” He dropped down his voice so that everyone had to stay completely silent in order to hear him properly. “So, when I give an order, I expect you all to follow. In Canada, we do not decide who lives and who dies – _especially –_ when there is no higher position to contradict my orders. If you think that I would blindly play hero, you’re wrong. I had the situation under control—”

“Then why send us away? If it was completely safe, you wouldn’t order us to leave so quickly.” Tachanka had seen his fair share of heroes. It was a hard decision, but it was one that ultimately ensured that he wouldn’t see another.

“The gunshot were scaring him more. If I could just talk to him—”

“And what would Iris say to that?” Glaz interrupted this time. Ciel’s gaze relaxed when he realized who was speaking to him. Still guarded though.

“That’s not important. My job is to ensure minimal civilian casualties and an efficient timeline. Iris does not affect that at all. I know my job. Do you know yours?”

Kapkan bristled and stepped closer to Ciel who gladly crossed his arms and met the furious gaze. “If you’re suggesting—”

“I know your grasp of English isn’t perfect, but I was asking a yes or no question: Do you know what your job is?”

“Yes.”

“Then do it. Because as far as I’m concerned, you job is to follow my orders when I give them out.” Ciel looked up at Tachanka, definitely the most respected out of the four. “No matter who you were. This is still my mission, and _if_ I feel like you’re going to endanger its success, I will not hesitate in refusing your organization _any_ room at all here. Have I made myself understood?”

The four Spetz, and even Sledge, who wasn’t really included with the Russians, nodded.

“Good.” Ciel stood back up, and waved for Frost and Buck to follow. “Tachanka, Kapkan, you’re services aren’t need here anymore. Thank you for your service, but transport to bring you back to Hereford will be here in the morning.”

“You—”

Ciel turned, with Frost and Buck on either side glared back. His threat was still in the air, and ultimately, the Spetz knew that Six and Harry were counting on them to make a good impression. Glaz nudged Kapkan, while Fuze remined still as a statue.

Sure, maybe Ciel was caught up in a wave of vindication, but Frost couldn’t deny the giddy feeling in her chest when Tachanka, and eventually Kapkan, nodded at Ciel. Justice. Partly.

.

“He was right, you know?” Buck hadn’t said anything since they split from Frost and they stayed in the command room. “About Iris.”

Ciel hadn’t really smiled at all since the argument. He was too busy covering for their asses to properly relax. But here he was, in nothing but pajama bottoms, despite the freezing temperatures, and showing off his upper body as he often like to do. Being bare had its downfalls. Forget that it was freezing outside, or that he could see goosebumps forming on his arms, Buck could see the muscles tense.

He watched as a hand subconsciously touched the chain around Ciel’s neck – a chain Buck doesn’t remember getting him.

“What’s the necklace for? Did you steal it from Iris?”

“We have matching ones. One depending on our animal year or whatever it’s called. She has a little bunny, and you and I are in the year of the monkey.” He turned and showed off the tiny charm. It was a silver monkey with it’s arms wrapped around a round jade bead. Small enough to be easily hidden, but still detailed enough to know what it was. Truth be told, Buck though it was kind of crude that such a nice charm hanging form such a plan band, next to dog tags of all things. “The first summer she went back to see her relatives in China, she asked me to go with her.”

“Were you nervous?”

“Even more nervous than meeting your mom back in high school.” That got Buck to smile.

“But she came back one day from shopping with her grandmother and handed me this charm to go with my dog tags. She said that she brought it to a temple and asked for it to have protective properties. So, as long as I wear it during my missions, it will keep me safe.”

“And…” Buck didn’t really want to ask the question, but he felt like Ciel was herding him towards it. They did have a lot to catch up on, he supposed. “If it doesn’t? If you die on a battlefield?”

“Bring it back to her. And these,” he reached into his uniform and pulled out a neatly folded photo. A crude selfie, of the two of them each with a guitar in their arms, smiling like there was nothing wrong with the world at all. That this would always be. And another photo, of Ciel with a much younger Iris on his shoulders, reaching up to grasp onto snowflakes.

“You know,” Buck couldn’t help but imagine where he was in both of these, “she really has made you happier than you ever could be with me.”

Ciel nodded his head. “You should stop comparing yourself to her. She’s my daughter. I have to treat her differently. Don’t sell yourself short because it was never your fault, Seb.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to get this out quickly, so if there are some really bad mistakes, I'll probably fix 'em once I have more time.


End file.
